shell, texaco and occidental: pioneers in the exploration in putumayo, oriente and marañón basins
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1Shell, Texaco and Occidental Pioneers in the Exploration in Putumayo, Oriente and
Marañón Basins
Hector F. San MartinSanMex Inc.
and
Scott E ThorntonThe Burmah Oil Company Limited
AAPG ICE, Cancun, Mexico, September 2-6, 2016History of Petroleum
Special Session
2
How much oilRegional Geological SettingExploration HistoryPutumayo BasinOriente (Ecuador) Basin Marañón BasinSummary
Agenda
3Giant Oil Field County (in Ecuador)More than 3 BBO and 1 TCFG produced to date from the Putumayo (Colombia), Oriente (Ecuador) and Maranon (Peru) basins. Ecuador is the sweet spot.
Estimated prospective resources (undiscovered recoverable resources) vary from 1,000 BBO to over 5,000 BBO and 200 to 4,000 BCFG.
Major reservoirs.
Putumayo: Cretaceous Caballos and Villeta Formation and Lower Tertiary Pepino Formations.
Oriente: Cretaceous Hollin and Napo Formations.
Marañón: Cushabatay, Agua Caliente, Chonta, and Vivian Formations in the.
4
After USGS Digital Series Paper # 63 (Modified)
Regional Geological Setting,Basins Location, Strat Column
5Putumayo, Oriente, Marañón Basins,West-East Well Log Correlation
W EA Limestone B Limestone C Limestone
Pepino Sst. (=Tena)
Lo Villeta Sandstones In ColombiaU and T Sandstones in EcuadorChonta and Aquacaliente Sandstones (Peru)
Lower Villeta (Colombia)= Napo (Ecuador)= Chonta/Agua Caliente/Raya (Peru)
Orito
Caballos Sandstones In ColombiaHollin Sandstones in EcuadorCushabtay Sandstones (Peru)Master aquifer in basin, and proven oil charge “pipeline” from oil generated in Napo Fm. (proven downward migration)
Becomes “sand pile” east
6PETROLEUM SYSTEM ELEMENTS 1.Putumayo, Oriente, Marañón Basins
Structural-stratigraphic accumulations, some very subtle.
Main reservoirs are the fluvial/estuarine channel fills and nearshore marine environments of the Napo U an T in the Putumayo and Oriente and its counterpart, the Vivian sandstone in Marañón.
Depths to the reservoirs ranges from 30 to 15,000 ft.
Thickness: Napo-Villeta varies with average of 300 meters and up to 900 meters. Porosity : average 17% with up to 25% and Permeability 500 MD with up to 6,000 MD.
7PETROLEUM SYSTEM ELEMENTS 2.Putumayo, Oriente, Marañón Basins
Source Rocks are the Cretaceous Villeta, Napo, Chonta Shales
Seals are the Upper Cretaceous-Lower Tertiary Shale
Thick sandstones of Caballos/Hollin/Cushabatay---major pathway of oil migration from downward expulsion from shallower rich source rocks.
8
After Mathalone and Montoya, 1995
Petroleum Systems Event Table,Putumayo, Oriente, Marañón Basins
Critical Moment
Pepino, Basal Tena Sst.
9
• Exploration in the Putumayo Basin was initiated in the late 1950s. First listed discovery was by Texaco in Orito (1963).
• Exploration in the Oriente Basin began with Shell’s pioneering work. All Shell office stranded in Ecuador in WWII, had no where to go, performed extensive outcrop and drainage analysis studies, built a town, airport, road.
• The first discovery in the Oriente Basin by Texaco was Lago Agrio in 1967. Giant field, with hydrodynamics (tilted water contact, common in this megabasin)
• In the Marañón, exploration started in the late 1960s (Texaco, Mobil). First economic discovery was by Occidental in the 1970s---cluster. Union discovered 3 fields in adjacent acreage, sub-economic without Oxy’s cluster. Dropped acreage, Oxy produced the heavy oil, co-mingled with their lighter crude.
Exploration History,Putumayo, Oriente, Marañón Basins
10
After BeicipFranlab, 2012
The first discovery in the Oriente Basin by Texaco was Lago Agrio in 1967. This was followed by a string of discoveries by Texaco, including, Shushufindi-Aguarico, the largest field in 1969, with 3.5 BBO in-place, followed by Sacha and Auca.
Exploration History,Putumayo, Oriente, Marañón Basins
11Seismic Acquisition,Oriente Basin WE
12Oriente Basin, Well Lago Agrio # 1, Texaco, Completed 04-08-1967
13Northern Maranon Basin
Peru
Ecuador1. Oxy/Union Blocks acquired based on regional
gravity data & drainage2. Oxy’s geoscience team came from experienced
Texaco geoscientists, lawsuit ensued3. Built pipeline, first significant oil in Maranon,
boost to Peru’s economy
14Pathfinding Exploration Companies
15Typical Rainforest: Tenneco Danta-1 Oil Discovery
We used to hike along the thin swaths from seismic acquisition whereDrilling for Tenneco or Unocal was very slow. Watching out for snakes,
spiders, black jaguars and wankas (wilk turkeys).
16Second Tier Companies Which Discovered Oil in Order of BBO
Economic Resources total> 150 BBO EUR
Subeconomic Resources total< 150 BBO EUR
AEOL
Operator
Union Oil Co. del Peru
17
Pathfinding explorers: Shell
Foothills discoveries by Texaco, Shell, Burmah and others discovered based on excellent field work and regional geology
Peruvian and Colombian parts of this mega basin appear quite maturely explored
Ecuador: first company into the basin, Shell, did not find the giant oil fields
Conclusions 1
18
Paleozoic plays have been tested (Lago Agrio Deep Test-1) and a few other wells, but reservoirs were tight.
Robust hydrocarbon charge system: very rich source rocks, good to excellent reservoirs.
Considerable potential exists within Ecuador.
Following the Path of the Oil Finders is not only fun, but important to any initial regional evaluation of a basin.
Conclusions 1
19Acknowledgements
hsanmartin@gmail.com+1.281.736.3086
sethornton@aol.com+1 .876.6433 Pacific Time
SanMex, Inc.
In honor of deceased explorers who influenced us a great deal:
Bob Canfield (Texaco) y Dave Wiman (Texaco/Tenneco-BG) 1941-1999
Donations to the AAPG Memorial Grant in Dave’s Honor are Greatly Appreciated
Arun Metrie (Unocal, retired; ex-Burmah Oil)Keith Lindsell (Unocal, retired; ex-Burmah Oil)
Eric Bosc (Unocal, retired; ex-Oxy)Rog Hardy and Hans Krause, AAPG History of Petroleum Geology
CommitteeSteve Hardy (BP history)BeicipFranlab
20
Sunset in OrienteNapo River
The Jungles of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are very beautiful treasuresKeep Them Clean and Green, As Unocal did in Ecuador
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